Week 149 – Shyness, Comments And The Horn Of A Unicorn

Before I start we would like to appeal to all of you who we haven’t met yet. I’m talking about the readers who don’t comment. We see the same images besides the ‘likes’ but you are all silent.

Perhaps it’s shyness. You know what is said about being shy? (Well you don’t because you wouldn’t ask.)

…A shy ostrich who buries their head in the sand and sticks their arse up in the air isn’t shy for very long.

We would like to invite you, for one day only, with no commitment, to have a wee comment.

It doesn’t need to be deep or meaningful, it just needs to be anything. Even a ‘I liked this’ would do. Don’t depend on a thumbs up…Put your own thumb up and let yourself go! Normally that phrase would have went somewhere else but I want to encourage and not scare away!

I’m even giving you a week to think on it as we are looking for these comments on our Saturday’s Posting on the 18th November. This is a special day for us as it is our 3rd year anniversary. Please get involved and send us a message.

So: Whippoorwill, Little Fire, Writerlady, Roy Dorman, Sue Vincent, xprettylittlethingsxo, therebemonstershhere.com, the drabble etc. We would love to know what you think of the site, any favourite stories and more importantly what you get out of it.

And we are not forgetting about our regulars and some like Orvillewrong who is reasonably new but is someone we now look out for. In a way, we are trying to express our thanks to you all and we want you all to realise that we appreciate you being around. You keep the site alive!

All of this made me think about shyness whilst writing. Is there such a thing or is it self censorship? If you feel so strongly about a subject that you would never write about it, surely that passion and those views should be used to do exactly that!

If you are a wee shy soul and don’t want to use those dirty words like ‘Boobies’, ‘Bottoms’ and ‘Cunt’ just shut your eyes whilst you are typing them and imagine a Unicorn is dictating.

I always wonder what the difference is between shyness and not being assertive. I think that the assertive phrase is for the successful and the shy phrase is for the common people. It’s a bit like being called ‘eccentric’. They have money and stay in an affluent area whereas a ‘nutcase’, has a drug problem and stays in an effluent area.

Even a ‘paedophile’ is income driven. A skint one is a pervert in the system living next to a school watching and wanking. Whereas a rich pervert who is wanking the system that they themself hide in is called a Politician.

So now onto this weeks stories. We had two new writers for you, Tom who is getting ever closer to number fifty, and a fourth and eighth timer.

Our topics were as diverse as usual. We had self acceptance, war, a life change, illegal gambling and advertising to the extreme.

As always our initial comments follow.

On Monday we had Jack Coey who added to his three previous stories with ‘The Callback’.

‘The setting was well done and the characters were believable.’

‘I loved the style and structure.’

‘The parallel is excellent, it is beautifully subtle.’

One of our new writers was next up. To both of them we welcome them and hope that they have fun on the site. ‘Step by Step by Step‘ was Deva Meri’s début.

‘This made me cry. The segment about him going down the stairs and realising that he couldn’t go back to his life was heartbreaking.’

‘Brilliant imagery and a harrowing central tale.’

‘So many layers. You felt for all the characters.’

Our second newbie had their first story published on Wednesday. ‘Captain Corn‘ from David Howard broke the back of the week.

‘Very enjoyable and well constructed.’

‘I was intrigued from the start.’

‘Everyone of us found merit within this skilful piece of story telling.’

There is nothing that I can say about Tom Sheehan. His word count bombs us all out the water. His class is a pleasure to read. On Thursday, ‘From One War To Another Without Choice‘ was another wonderful example of his work.

‘The writing is almost hypnotic.’

‘When the ending comes you feel as if you’ve just emerged from some odd dream. It is beautiful and sad.’

‘Excellent. The acceptance and despair about war was harrowing.’

That brought us to the end of the week. It was held on a Friday. Larry Lefkowitz added to his excellent back catalogue with ‘Caesar’s Shade.’

‘The fickleness all makes sense.’

‘The cynical and greedy dialogue is very well done.’

‘This is a clever idea beautifully executed.’

That’s us well and truly rounded up.

As I’ve said, next week is our three year anniversary and we would love for all our readers and writers to contribute so please give it a go.

And even if you are a wee bit apprehensive grab that Unicorn by his horn and let fly!

Although that would be easier if a Unicorn had shagged a Pegasus. But maybe if you grabbed him by the horn, he wouldn’t want to move, only twitch a bit!

Writers should have the same negative feelings toward silence that the Scots have for pay toilets. I am sort of sorry for sharing that oft repeated gem. Blame it on my grandfather. He was born in Belfast, and he shared that plenty. Of course, he lived in a time of stereotypes. He loved his drink and was a Seattle cop who walked a beat. Strange, does it all mean that the Irish approve of pay toliets? Seems out of character to me.

No proud Scotsman would ever pay for a public toilet as long as there was a beer selling establishment in close proximity!
A pint and a pish has started off many unplanned evenings of socialising.
And I think the Irish would be the same!!
As always, thanks for all your interest and input Leila!!
Hugh

On the subject of Unicorns…I read a wonderful story yesterday about the trails and tribulations of having a Unicorn as a pet…”Exit Zero” by Marie-Helene Bertino (2016 edition of The O.Henry Prize Stories).

As a contributor, I live for comments. We all do, I guess. As a reader, and one who traipses around reading and commenting all over prose’s virtual half-acre, I find myself spread thin, profundity-wise, and so I sometimes err on the side of silence. I will do better.